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Case 14. The Power of the Past:
Given its crowned double-headed eagle motifs, one might consider the imperial Czarevich Egg quintessentially Russian, but this elaborate Easter gift also incorporates earlier European designs, an important stream of artistic inspiration introduced by Catherine the Great (1729-1796).
The formed elements of Faberge's works were often inspired by historical sources. He and his colleagues had access to earlier examples of decorative art scattered through the palaces of the Russian imperial court. A collector himself, Faberge was familiar with the collections of international museums. Pattern books -- easily circulated volumes of ornamental design -- were doubtless an important source for the firm as well. Faberge maintained a library at his St. Petersburg company headquarters to inspire his designers' imaginations.
In the Czarevich Egg, Russian eagles vie for space with double-winged busts that turn cupids into caryatids. Hanging chinoiserie canopies, florid scrolls, graceful garlands, and flower baskets festoon the remaining space. The ornamental scheme recalls a design made around 1700 for the French court. Applied goldwork covers joints between sections of stone, making the egg appear as if carved from a single block of lapis.
The Czarevich Egg: A Dynastic Surprise:
This regal egg makes a suitable container for a portrait of Nicholas and Alexander's only son and last child, Czarevich Alexis (1904-1918). The crowned double-headed eagle motif is repeated in the surprise, for the egg hides a similar bird made of platinum completely studded with diamonds and set on a small lapis base like an elaborate chess piece. The eagle spread glittering wings while holding the orb and scepter of the Romanov dynasty in its claws. A miniature portrait of the heir apparent forms its body. The Romanov crown jewels are replicated in the little eagle's crown, orb, and scepter. Hundreds of tiny rose-cut diamonds set into the eagle frame might have reminded Faberge's craftsmen of the more than three thousand diamonds in the imperial crown made for Catherine the Great or of the massive Orlov diamond, weighing almost two hundred carats and topped with yet another double-headed eagle, on the Romanov imperial scepter. |